This could have been about a dozen different features that have disappeared.

I wonder where LinkedIn is headed – if they keep taking away functionality from free users they will either drive their users to other networks (Facebook and Google+), or they will increase their upgrades and make more money.

Perhaps they’ll accomplish both: make more money from people who use the tool while getting rid of (dare I say?) freeloaders who just use the resources.

5 Responses to “Are LinkedIn’s Free Features Going Away?”

Amen. LinkedIn has become almost useless as anything but a resume posting site. Lots of goodies for the HR people who pay, and who make up the vast majority of LI revenues (75% at their IPO).

We’ve seen leading companies do this kind of thing over and over – and almost always lose because of their greed or customer insensitivity. Is it hard to come to the conclusion that this once-friendly company is taking one thing after another away so they can capture $25 per month from the unemployed – the very people who came to LI in droves and helped make their founders rich at their IPO?

Come on LinkedIn. Wake up. You’re expendable, just like every other predatory company has been and will be. If you’re curious, you can ask me for a list of defunct companies that forgot their customers made them successful.

I used to teach LinkedIn at job support groups. No longer. I really don’t believe in them any more. You still need to be there because that’s were hiring managers and recruiters are looking. But don’t expect too much from the experience.

As some know, I’ve often posited that a competitor, NIdekniL, could come in and eat their lunch. After their initial launch, they’ve been continuously veering away from their promises. There are also so many “trolls” in their “population”, it’s a miracle anyone would pay for their “service”. I did at one time when it was nominal; now it’s expensive. To read fake profiles? It reminds me of a dating site. (Suck in that gut and smile.) Argh! Hard to figure who’s going to make them passe, but hopefully soon. Like so many great ideas, they too have “jumped the shark” imho.